Unordinary Silver
by Striking Falcon
Summary: By day, she’s Kagome Higurashi, quiet, meek, timid and not very noticeable. She sits at her desk at Endo Enterprises, the personal secretary for financial advisor Inuyasha Endo. By night, she’s the Silver Miko, the talk of news reports around the ci
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Come on people. If I owned it, would I be doing fanfiction when I could get paid for it. Nooo!

Unordinary Silver

Prologue

_Deep in the jungles of Central America..._

The porter lagged behind the excavation party, the large black crate strapped to his back shifted from side to side with each footfall. He wiped his sweaty brow and glanced up at the sun, guessing the time to be mid afternoon as sweat trickled down the back of his neck.

'And to think,' he grumbled to himself as he followed the others into the think jungle. 'I could have been at home, enjoying the air conditioning but noooo...my dear wife just _had_ to suggest this. Well, I am getting paid $100 a day.'

"Hurry along Manuel," the guide at the front of the group called to him as he raised his machete against another thick branch. "We want to be there before nightfall, yes?"

"I'm coming," Manuel huffed. He shifted the crate to a more comfortable position in the center of his back and trudged along behind the other porters and the two foreigners. He'd taken notice of them earlier in the week, observing both their differences and their likenesses as they walked with one a little ahead of the other.

Both men had long dark hair and dark brown eyes with facial structures that mimicked one another, but there was where the similarities ended. The one in the front was dressed like a rich American, though Manuel could tell by his facial features and speech they both were from Japan, with a white linen short sleeved shirt, a pair of olive khakis and a sturdy pair of hiking boots. He wore his hair back in a low ponytail, with the ends of it brushing against his lower back. His eyes were lighter than his brother's but chilling, almost as if he could freeze the world with a single glance.

Manuel looked from the eldest to the one trailing behind him. He wanted to laugh at this one with his brown leather pants, leather jacket and long sleeved white shirt. To Manuel, he looked like an 'Indiana Jones' groupie, right down to the dirty brown hat and ragged whip at his side. He trailed a little behind the eldest, his loose hair reaching a little below mid-back.

Manuel yawned again and sighed before the guide hollered for a rest stop. He sat down gratefully, slid the crate from his back to the grass below, pulled a pair of headphones from the hip pack at his side and drowned out the rest of the excavation party as the guide read over a map.

"Mr. Endo?" he called after a moment. The youngest looked up, the oversized hat falling into his eyes with the quick move. He shoved it up irritably and glared at the guide. "Yeah, what?"

"Not you Mr. Endo. You're brother."

"Yes?" the elder replied as he stood up. He pinned the younger with a glare and moved to stand in front of the guide. "What is the problem?" he asked. "Are we almost there?"

"From what this map says, yes," the guide said. "But there is one tiny problem."

"And that is?"

"From what it says here, the flower you're looking for grows up ahead. I sent a scout ahead of us and he says that the only thing he sees is a temple of some sort."

"A...temple..." The elder Endo quirked a brow thoughtfully, his brow furrowing as he glanced into the forest ahead of them. "Ahead of us you say?"

"Yes Mr. Endo. Right ahead of us."

"Then call the rest stop to an end. We may as well continue."

"Very well," the guide nodded and did as he was told as the younger Endo stood up.

"What's going on Sesshoumaru?" he asked in Japanese as Sesshoumaru picked up a black bookbag and settled it on his shoulders. "Why are we moving so soon?"

"There seems to have been a discovery ahead of us," Sesshoumaru answered and gestured for Inuyasha to gather his things. "As for what it is, I'm not sure."

"But what about the Andos flower?" Inuyasha asked, then huffed irritably when Sesshoumaru merely walked away from him. Inuyasha ran to catch up and jogged at his side, grasping the straps of his backpack as he stared up at his elder brother. "Hey, did you hear what I said?"

"Hai I did, unfortunately," Sesshoumaru answered. "I do not know about that either. The guide said that the scout saw nothing but a temple."

"But there aren't any temples around here," Inuyasha disagreed as he pulled a map from his pack and glanced over it. "There aren't any on the map at least."

"Hai, I know. I am just as confused as you are."

"There's a first," Inuyasha muttered under his breath, then jogged ahead when Sesshoumaru glared at him. He caught up with the guide just as he broke through the last of the jungle to a clearing above. Their mouths dropped open and they stopped mid stride, their heads directed up as Sesshoumaru motioned for those around him to stop.

"What is...it..." He stood in awe at the enormous ruin in front of him, ignoring the porters gasp of surprise and worry as he, Inuyasha and the guide stepped closer. The ruin was almost completely intact, in the pyramid shape of a temple. At the very top was what looked like a set of doors sheltered by a stone awning, with a pair of lit torches mounted on either side of the doors.

Sesshoumaru turned when the porters began mumbling, the language foreign to him. "What are they saying?" he asked Inuyasha.

"Oh, it's nothing," the guide said quickly. "It's just some silly folklore." He clapped his hands to get the porters attention. "Manuel, Hilargo, come with us! The rest of you stay here."

The requested porters nervously stepped up and behind the guide, leaving the rest of the guides to mumble amongst themselves. "What are they saying Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru whispered as the guide led them up the stairs of the temple.

"I don't know exactly," Inuyasha said with a shake of his head. "I mean, it's all sorta weird. They keep saying something about a 'dogged curse'."

"That doesn't sound right," Sesshoumaru shook his head. "Are you sure you heard them right?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha nodded. "I heard them. They kept saying something about a dogged curse and that we shouldn't be here."

"Here we are!" the guide chirped while waving down to them. "This is the entrance! Come!"

Inuyasha fell in step with Sesshoumaru, with the two porters nervously following behind. As they walked past the heavy stone doors, Inuyasha couldn't shake the sudden sense of foreboding. He glanced around warily as the guide lit a nearby torch, his senses on high alert as a serious case of the 'willies' crept up his spine. The porters behind him weren't helping either. They stayed at least five steps behind him and looked as if to bolt like frightened deer at the fall of a pebble or a stray breeze.

"I seriously don't like this Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha whispered lowly. "Have you checked out the porters man? They're about ready to piss their pants."

Sesshoumaru nodded, too engrossed in a hieroglyph painted on a nearby wall. His fingers traced the small image curiously and Inuyasha watched as his lips moved without a sound. "Sesshoumaru? Damn it man didn't you hear me? Something's not _right_ here!"

"Please Mr. Endo," the guide said from the other side of the tunnel. "I promise you, everything is fine. Ignore Manuel and Hilargo. They're from the local village and there's a superstition about this here temple. Trust me, there's nothing here but spiders and dust."

"There Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru mumbled as he followed the guide down the tunnel. "There is nothing to be afraid of. And here I thought you had grown out of your fear of the dark."

"Feh," Inuyasha snorted in insult, his arms crossing over in a huff. "What the fuck ever. You just wait and see. I'm telling you man, my hair is standing on end."

"Such dramatics," Sesshoumaru sighed with a shake of his head. Still, they continued on throughout the rest of the dark and dismal tunnel and walked down what had to be hundreds of flights of stairs as the guide explained the sights around them.

"We're inside one of the many temples that are sprinkled along our countryside. Scientists have concluded that this temple and the temples of the Aztec have more than a few similarities, such as the artifacts littered along the floor and the hieroglyphics painted on the wall. It's believed that this temple served a long dead race of ancient warriors.

"They were a powerful race, according to legend," the guide said as they walked down a long flight of stairs. "They were killers by trade and other tribes would hire out their warriors for their wars."

"They were ancient mercenaries," Sesshoumaru 'explained' to Inuyasha. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and flipped a stray lock away from his face. The guide stopped at a wall and faced him, his torch shining like a holy beacon in the overpowering darkness.

"When archeologists first found this area, they assumed it was a dead end like the rest of the temple's caverns and pathways. And from where you stand, that's exactly what it looks like. However, the first person to hold a torch to the wall itself found this..." The guide lifted the torch, the flame rising above his head to shine down on him and the wall behind him.

Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha stepped back in shock, the frantic mumbled prayers of the frightened porters falling on deaf ears as a large mural appeared on the wall. It faded into existence slowly, first being nothing but a giant white blob before taking shape. The bottom of the blob became feet...no, paws with long, razor sharp claws that rested at the bottom of the wall. At the top a head was beginning to form, taking the shape of what looked to be a great white collie. The mural resembled a giant white dog when finished, it's ears perked and alert as it glared down at them with frigid golden eyes.

"This is only the first secret of this amazing place," the guide said as he stepped forward and touched the mural's paws. Inuyasha looked up as something large clicked and tumbled together like the inside of a lock. The brothers flinched as the stone rolled away with a mighty rumble, revealing a small room on the other side.

"Come," the guide said as he walked into the room. "This room is harmless. This is where the priests and priestesses were said to give their blessings to the warriors before they went to war. The holy ones were supposed to be the most powerful of the entire tribe, with the ability to commune with the gods."

"Just like any other culture," Inuyasha mumbled irritably as he and Sesshoumaru followed the guide into the room. To him, it was nothing spectacular. The entire room was nothing more than a cave, with a stone alter at the opposite end of the room. Inuyasha looked from the guide to Sesshoumaru, who was unusually quiet throughout the entire journey here.

"Hey Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha nudged as his half brother touched another mural, this one of a young woman dressed in an ancient ceremonial robe. "Have you forgotten about the flower?"

"Of course not Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru glowered before turning away from him. "But this is a once in a lifetime experience. I'm almost positive that this place is not on the tourist bureau's 'Places to Visit' manual. I intend to satisfy my curiosity throughly."

"You're so damned hopeless," Inuyasha griped loudly, rolled his eyes and turned to make his way back to the door. He stopped and watched the porters as they stood there huddled in the door frame, their eyes widened in horror and shaking like proverbial leaves. The sight brought back Inuyasha's unease full force, and he turned back to tell Sesshoumaru when he kneeled down beside the alter.

"There's something here," Sesshoumaru told the guide as he reached out for what looked to be a small crack in the alter's surface. He traced the crack from the beginning of the crack to the end, unknowingly sliding down a hidden lever inside the crack. The wall behind the alter split in half and the guide jumped back as it parted ways like the Red Sea.

"This is amazing," the guide whispered as another room came into focus. The room ahead of them glowed faintly, the result of an unseen force. The room was divided by a deep ravine, with an old stone bridge connecting the two halves together. The dog mural from before stretched along the entire wall, with the dog running instead of sitting as outside. Beneath it blossomed tiny indigo blue flowers that barely reached three inches with blood red centers.

"Sesshoumaru look!" Inuyasha exclaimed as he pointed toward the other room. "It's the Andos flower!"

"Hai Inuyasha. I see it."

"What is it doing in here?" the guide whispered as Sesshoumaru stepped onto the bridge. "It's...not possible. There's no light, no water, no-"

"Hey Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha's yell interrupted his thought. "Look down man! What the fuck is that?"

The guide looked over the side of the ravine as Sesshoumaru looked down. Both watched as a slimy blue substance oozed it's way along underneath him. It flowed like a river on slow motion with the occasional plops to tell of it's undercurrent. "Just what the fuck is that shit?" Inuyasha demanded. "It can't be safe! Gods that's so gross!"

"Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru called as he pulled a small specimen container out of his pocket. "Stop whining and be of some use. Gather a couple of specimen containers and come on."

Inuyasha grumbled but complied as he dropped his backpack to the cold stone floor and rummaged inside. The guide continued to stare as the porters prayers became loud, incoherent and insistent. Sesshoumaru continued along the bridge alone, his footsteps a little shaky but confidant as he slowly made his way toward the other side of the room and the mural.

The guide stepped back and stumbled over a stone behind him. His hand grasped what he thought was a vine for balance and fell backward when the 'vine' suddenly shifted. The bridge underneath Sesshoumaru's feet began to disappear one stone at a time, with Sesshoumaru being thrown to the oozing goo below with the first stone. Inuyasha watched as he fell below the river's surface and rose again before turning to the others.

"Hey! Sesshoumaru fell in you guys! You've got to help me!" He balked when everyone turned and ran from the room, leaving Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru alone as the room began to seal itself. "Hey damn it! Didn't you hear me? I said Sesshoumaru's stuck down there!" He growled angrily as they disappeared behind the closing door, the last bit of the tour guide's shirt ripping on the stone in his efforts to escape.

"Damn those cowards!" Inuyasha swore before jerking off his boots and jacket. "Sesshoumaru? Sesshoumaru? Fuck man can you hear me?"

A gurgle was his only answer. Inuyasha panicked immediately and dove in without another thought, his concern for his brother clouding what little good judgement he had as the blue sludge enveloped him. He struggled to the surface and inhaled deeply, then glanced around wildly for any traces of Sesshoumaru.

He watched in horror as Sesshoumaru's hand, the only part of him above the slime, was slowly sucked underneath the slime's glowing surface...

(End Chapter)

Yeah, I know. I'm kinda cruel that way. In truth, this is yet another weird idea of mine that came from God knows where and Cheetoz. Let me know what you guys think so I can know if I should continue or not.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Um...duh. I don't own it. If I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. Lol.

Chapter Two

"No sir," the young woman replied, her raven head shaking slightly as she answered the other person's questions. She mentally scoffed at herself, knowing that the other person wouldn't be able to see her over the telephone lines, before repeating herself. "No sir, Nanigata-san-" She paused, a calming breath released through her petal pink lips and nodded. "I do not believe it to be correct business form to call you by your first name. Again, I do not know when Endo-san will return to work." She sighed in long suffering, her chocolate brown eyes rolling in annoyance while the voice on the other end continued to argue with her.

"I assure you," she promised as she pushed her rolling chair toward the computer on the other side of her massive pine desk. "I will have Endo-san contact you the moment he returns. No sir, please don't worry about it. Sayonara." She hung up, took a deep breath and released a cleansing breath before opening her purse. She pulled out her cell phone, opened its text message feature and sent a quick message to a co-worker.

_Hey Sango. You free?_ She reached for a manilla folder resting on her desktop, propped it up near her computer screen and began to type. She stopped when her phone rang, the small pink Nokia singing out a cutesy version of the Super Mario Brothers theme song.

_Yeah Kagome. I'm free. What's up?_

Kagome smiled and punched out what she wanted. _What's going on wit the Endo brothers? Haven't seen them in a few_ _months _Kagome sent it and continued typing. She tapped her desk thoughtfully, her eyes distant as she solved some problem in her mind. She stopped when her phone rang again.

_You don't know?_ Was Sango's answer. Kagome frowned and readied to answer back when Sango sent her another message.

_There was some sort of freak accident in South America. They've been in the hospital._

_No way! _Kagome replied quickly. _That would've been all over the news. I haven't heard a word about it. _

_They must not have wanted anyone to know, but I've got a newspaper clipping where they were in Argentina. It says that they found some sort of ruin and something happened where Sesshoumaru fell into some sort of sludge. Inuyasha went in after him._

_Wait a minute. _Kagome sent back, her eyes wide in shock. **_Inuyasha_ **_saved **Sesshoumaru**? Those two hate each other!_

_Well that's what the paper said _Sango replied.

_Anyway_, _their excavation party lost track of them. They found them downstream of the ruin covered in this weird purple goo. They flew them back to Japan and they've been in a coma ever since. _

_Oh my goodness. Do they think they'll be ok._

Kagome waited for her reply, a slight frown marring her pretty features once her patience began to thin. _Sango, what the-_

_Girl, get ready. Here he comes. _Sango sent before Kagome could send her message.

_Here who comes?_

_Endo-san. He's coming on the elevator!_

'Oh no!' Kagome gasped as she attempted to straighten up her work area. 'Which one's coming?' she wondered as she tossed her cell back into her purse. 'Ohno-ohno-ohno-' "Ohayo gozaimasu Endo-san," Kagome stood up and greeted as Inuyasha stepped off of the elevator. Kagome relaxed at the sight of him, her shoulders slightly slumped as he nodded to her in greeting. Sesshoumaru intimidated her and even though she was his secretary as well as Inuyasha's her nervousness tended to cause her to embarrass herself in front of him.

"Eh, ohayo Kagome," Inuyasha grumbled from underneath his hat. The gray material glistened wetly as did his trench coat as he shed them and shoved it, the hat and his umbrella in Kagome's general direction. "What's goin' on?"

"There isn't much," Kagome said as she struggled to keep herself dry and hang up Inuyasha's belongings. She stood on her tiptoes and placed each item on the chrome plated hall tree in the right corner of the lobby. "Nanigata-san requests that you call him as soon as possi-"

"I'm not thinking about that old bastard," Inuyasha grumbled irritably. He reached up and rubbed the right side of his face, his brown eyes narrowed painfully.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked. "Do you have a headache or something Endo-san?"

"Yeah, I think I do," Inuyasha ground out as the throbbing refused to go away. Kagome frowned sympathetically and helped him into his office and behind his desk.

"Is there anything I can get you?" Kagome asked. Inuyasha groaned something unintelligible and dropped his head to his desk. "Would you like an aspirin?" she offered as she reached over the desk's surface to lightly scratch the back of his head.

"Do you have one the size of a manhole cover?" was his pained response. Kagome giggled lightly and quit the room but not before promising to return with his pain medication and something to wash it down. Inuyasha groaned when she closed the door. He sat up and rubbed at his temples, then pushed his fingers from ear to ear over the top of his head. 'Where did this come from?' he wondered silently. 'I wasn't like this when I left the hospital yesterday.'

Inuyasha remembered waking from the coma rather well, with little more than a clearing of his dark brown eyes as the moonlight shone through a nearby window. Sesshoumaru remained as he was, his older brother's form still as death while the nurses fluttered around them. Their doctor deemed it necessary for Inuyasha to remain in the hospital for another week (after already spending two) during which they drew blood, skin and hair samples. International Affairs were awaiting him as well, the stout older man demanding answers as to what happened to cause the accident. Inuyasha remembered little after jumping into that deep purple sludge, his only thoughts at the time were to get to his overbearing ass of a brother and haul them both to shore. As far as anything else, the IA agent had to fill in the blanks for him.

He and Sesshoumaru had been found by their excavation party ('The deserters! No way are they getting paid!') some fifteen miles down river, coated in a thick purple powder. Some of whatever it was they managed to fall into managed to make it inside one of Sesshoumaru's specimen jars, including samples of the Andos flower, and through some miracle made it through Japanese customs.

Inuyasha felt great after his release from the hospital, so great in fact he promised to come back to see Sesshoumaru the next day after work. He returned home bright, bushy-tailed and with loads of energy to spare. He cleaned his kitchen (something it was in sore need of after so long out of use), did a little grocery shopping and even picked out and pressed his suit before going to bed. The headache that tormented now had greeted him with the first new rays of the sun, the cheerful yellow light connecting harshly with his ill-used pupils and blinding him. The headache only continued to get worse and Inuyasha groaned again when the telephone rang.

"Kagome," he groaned at the closed door, his eyes screwed shut in agony.

"Kagome!"

Inuyasha sighed painfully and sat up, his stiff neck screaming in protest, and stopped the accursed ringing. "This had better be good," he growled irritably, his teeth bared in a menacing sneer.

"Oh, but it is Endo-san," said the voice on the other end. Inuyasha groaned again. "I don't want to talk to you Nanigata."

"Now why not?" he pouted slightly. "Surely you didn't think I wouldn't call and check up on you Inuyasha. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"

"You were Pop's friend you old jackass," Inuyasha grumbled back. "So don't start that crap. I've got stuff to do so-"

"No, don't hang up on me yet," Nanigata said before Inuyasha could hang up. "I really just wanted to know what happened to you two. You're _secretary_ wouldn't give me your home phone number so-"

"And she shouldn't have," Inuyasha retorted with a grin. "Kagome's just doin' what we ask her to do so you can hang it up. Don't give her any shit for not listening to you either."

"Now who said I was going to?" was the reply from the other end. "I know how protective you are of the young lady. I say, one would think you had a crush on her."

"No, it's nothing like that," Inuyasha quickly replied. "Kagome's the only secretary we've had that seems to work with the **both** of us! Don't do anything to her to make her quit!"

"I'm not! What's going on-"

Inuyasha hung up without another word, a satisfied smirk on his pained features. 'I can imagine how he's acting right now,' he said to himself as he leaned back in his chair. 'He's probably cussing up a cool breeze. Haha! Toutousai's so easy to rile up!' He looked up when the automatic door popped open to allow Kagome into the room, a cup of warm tea in one hand, a bottle of aspirin in the other, and a concerned smile on her lips.

"Are you feeling any better?" she asked as she sat down the tea and opened the bottle. She shook out two pills, grasped his hand and frowned when he clenched it closed. "Inuyasha," she sang out in warning. "Open."

"No."

"Open now Inuyasha."

"No and stop screeching at me. My head is ki-" Kagome popped the tablets into his mouth before he could protest, pushed his chin up and held his mouth closed. He struggled against her, his dark eyes snapping angrily when she refused to release him. She smiled once he swallowed, the determination in her sparkling brown orbs fading to amusement at his expense.

"I don't know why you even bother," she said as she handed him the tea. "You know I win every time."

"Yeah well," Inuyasha croaked out. "I wish you'd treat my brother like this. I'm tired of the abuse."

"Yeah, yeah," Kagome replied. "If you need me, I'll be at my desk."

"You'd better be," Inuyasha called out as she left the room. "And don't gossip with the lobby secretary! You don't focus enough as it is!" She laughed, and he shook his head when the door closed behind her. "Stupid woman," he said to himself before leaning back in his seat. He raised the styrofoam cup to his nose and inhaled, the abrupt scent of mint instantly assaulting his senses. He wrinkled his nose and held the cup to the side, then sat it down and frowned. No matter what he did, he couldn't get away from the mint smell and the farther away it moved the stronger it became. He held his nose and tried again. The scent was blocked to his satisfaction and the flavor of the tea became what he remembered.

'That was weird,' Inuyasha said to himself as he set the cup down again. He put a small desk calender over the cup and backed away, his brow furrowed as he took a hesitant breath. He sighed in relief when he found the air clean -well sort of clean- and with only a few traces of mint. 'Whew,' he sighed. 'I wonder what that wa-' Pine needles, various astringents and wood polish overwhelmed him and continued to do so well after he covered his nose. He stopped and whimpered as the scents of cleaning supplies assaulted him. He fell from his chair and gagged, his face turning a deathly white as he struggled to breathe.

"Ka-" he croaked out as he attempted to drag himself back into his chair. "Kag-" He reached up for the intercom button, his fingertips frantically dragging across his desk. His eyes closed before he found it, his breath coming out in a great _woosh_ before he lost consciousness.

(I)

Kagome shook her head as she walked out, her smile never wavering as she returned to her desk and sat down. 'He should be better by the end of the hour,' Kagome said to herself before she sat down and began typing. She worked until noon, when Sango called her and invited her to lunch.

"Gladly!" Kagome chirped happily, her fingers already working to shut down her computer. "I'll be down in a few minutes." She turned off the computer, picked up her purse and knocked on Inuyasha's door.

"Endo-san," she called as she knocked again. She frowned when the automatic door refused to open. She pressed her thumb against a small scanner next to the door and knocked again.

"Endo-san? Inuyasha, are you-"

"Go on Kagome," he finally grumbled out. "I'm not hungry."

"Um, ok," Kagome replied back, her tone unsure as she stared at the door. "Do you need anything else though? I could-"

"Go eat," was his snappy reply. "I can hear your stomach growling from here."

Kagome huffed and flounced away, insulted. 'Well I never,' she griped to herself as she boarded the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby. 'He's such a-a-' "A jerk!" she vented to the empty cab. She groaned and leaned against the back of the cab when it stopped. She groaned again, this time silently, when a familiar face appeared between the open elevator doors.

"Hey!" he greeted with a wide grin. "How's my woman doing?"

"Konnichi wa Williams-san-"

"I told you to call me Kouga," he interrupted as he stepped into the elevator. He reached back and wheeled in a cart with a large glass jar on top. The pink material inside jiggled like Jell-o and the smaller glasses on the cart's lower shelf clicked against each other with each lurch of the cart's wheels.

"What's that?" Kagome asked as she pointed to the cart.

"Oh, it's something the Endo brothers brought back from South America." Kouga held up one of the smaller glass jars and tapped the side of the jar. "This is that Andos flower they were looking for."

"What's it supposed to do?" Kagome asked as she stared at the strange looking plant.

"I dunno," Kouga admitted with a shrug. "I'm not worried about the flowers though. Its this pink stuff that concerns me."

"Well what do you think it is?" Kagome asked.

"Again, I dunno," Kouga repeated. "But I'm going to lab 5 to figure it out. Do you...wanna come with me?"

"Um, no, not really," Kagome replied with a quick shake of her head. "Besides, I'm going to lunch. Would you like for me to bring you back anything?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I would. Bring me back one of those sushi plates."

Kagome laughed and nodded as the elevator doors opened. "Haven't you tried anything else since you moved here?" she asked as Kouga wheeled the cart out of the elevator.

"No, not really," Kouga responded. "We had sushi in California so that's what I'm used to."

"Let me pick you out something different," Kagome offered. "I promise it'll be just as good."

"Alright then." He reached inside the elevator, grasped her hands and gave her a rakish grin. "I'll trust your judgement Kagome. After all, anything you like must taste like heaven."

"Eheh, thanks," Kagome giggled nervously. "The elevator door's closing Williams-san."

"It's Kouga!" Kouga shouted as the doors closed. Kagome rolled her eyes, shook her head, and placed the money she gave him in her wallet.

"Hey!" Sango called once Kagome stepped onto the lobby floor. "What took you so long? Come on, let's go!"

"OK!" Kagome laughed at her friend's enthusiasm and allowed Sango to drag her out of the building into the bustling streets beyond.

(II)

Kagome laughed as Sango described her latest date, the dismay on her friend's face hilarious as she huffed and threw up her hands.

"I just don't understand it," she said as she and Kagome stepped off of the bus. "Why do I always end up with the psychos? What is it about me that just _attracts_ them to me like flies to honey?"

"Sango it can't be that bad," Kagome promised and held open the lobby's glass door. "I mean, at least you can get a date."

"Now Kagome, don't be that way," Sango replied with an encouraging pat to Kagome's shoulder. "What about Kouga? He likes you."

"I don't know." Kagome shook her head. "He's too pushy for me. I feel like I'm territory, staked and claimed. I don't like it."

"Then why did you pick up his lunch today?" Sango asked, her eyebrows wagging suggestively as she returned to her desk.

"I don't know," she answered while Sango signed onto her computer. "He's just a friend though."

"Well go be 'friendly' and get the man his food!"

Kagome laughed as she shooed her toward the elevator, her purse bouncing against her side and the little white box of take-out clutched tightly in her small hands. "Wait Sango," she said hurriedly. "I don't even know what floor he's on!"

"The fifth, where the labs are," Sango shook her head and pressed the elevator's call button. "That's where all the scientists are. Duh!"

"Alright, alright." Kagome 'eep!'ed in fright when Sango shoved her through the open elevator doors. 'Jeez, that Sango,' Kagome laughed and shook her head. She sat the box down by her feet and straightened the sleeves of her navy blue blouse, then returned her hair to it's bun before bending over to grab the box.

"Man, do you get this show with every ride?"

Kagome looked up -confused- as Kouga smiled down at her, then looked down, blushed and held the collar of her shirt closed. "Not normally Williams-san," she said and stepped to the side while he rolled his cart onto the elevator. The small jars of flowers were replaced by more small jars, these filled with the pink substance he held in a larger container earlier. Kagome flushed again when he winked and grinned at her.

"Here you go by the way," she said as she practically shoved the white box at him. Kouga accepted it gratefully, his fingers lingering on Kagome's a bit longer than was necessary. Kagome's hands immediately dove into her purse, her fumbling near frantic until she touched what she was looking for. Kouga watched, disappointed, as she pulled out a heart pin and fastened her shirt closed, her cleavage hidden much to Kouga's disappointment.

"What's this?" Kouga asked as he weighed the box.

"It's something I thought you'd appreciate," Kagome said and watched with a smile when he opened it.

"A cheeseburger?" he grinned. "And fries? Where'd you get this?"

"We have burger shops in Tokyo Williams-san," Kagome replied with a soft laugh. "As a matter of fact, there's one down the block. I hope it's to your liking."

"It is," Kouga said as he pushed the box onto the bottom row of his cart. "Thank you very much Kagome."

"You're welcome William-san," Kagome said. She sidetracked his attempt to hug her with a polite cough, then waved when he pushed his cart off of the elevator. She sighed in relief when the doors closed behind him, the shiny steel panels a comfort from the kind-hearted scientist's advances.

'He means well, I guess,' she said to herself and pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. 'He's just too forward for me. It's harder, I guess, for me to just go out with someone than it is Sango. She's always been the confidant one, the feisty one out of the both of us. I've always been so...mousey. I guess-hey, what's that?' Kagome kneeled down, her dark wide legged pants shifting underneath her as she stooped down and reached for a small glass jar.

"Kouga must have dropped it," Kagome whispered to herself and picked up the jar. The pink fluid inside moved sluggishly, like molasses or cooling tar, but shimmered in the light like pink crystal. The glass around it was cool yet the odd substance inside gave off a heat in her palm that was comforting. "How weird," Kagome muttered to herself. 'I should get this back to Kouga but...what floor did he get off on? I was in such a hurry for him to leave I totally didn't pay attention!' She groaned and slapped her forehead. 'I'm almost to my floor now. I'll just call Sango and ask what floor his office is on.'

Kagome nodded and stood up at the tiny bell that signaled the elevator's stop. The doors slid open and Kagome gaped as a waiting room full of people rounded on her. Angry eyes snapped and the yelling began the moment Kagome stepped off the elevator.

"We know Senor Endo is in the building," one man said as Kagome attempted to wade through the crowd. "We demand to see him!"

"I'm sorry sir," Kagome replied, abandoning her Japanese for the man's native language. "But Senor Endo isn't seeing anyone at this time-"

"We don't care for your excuses!" a woman interrupted furiously. "Tell them that they can't hide from us! We have reports that demand their attention!"

"Projects must be approved!"

"Budgeting must be-"

"Por favor!" Kagome exclaimed over the demanding voices. She was shoved toward the front of the crowd, a small gasp passing her petal pink lips when her elbow collided painfully with her desktop. "Please, stop! Senor Endo isn't feeling well today! If you would all please-"

"What in the hell is going on out here!"

Kagome and the others gasped and turned, the eyes of the offenders round with worry as Inuyasha leaned against the doorframe leading to his office. He glared at the people around Kagome, his dark eyes narrowed dangerously as he stepped forward. Kagome paled, her purse forgotten as it fell over her desk and clunked into an open drawer on the other side.

Inuyasha leaned against Kagome's desk, his steady hand and sure footing belying the sudden dizziness he felt when he opened his office door. He woke up a few moments before Kagome went to lunch, his secretary's pure, concerned voice calling to him from the darkness that was the recesses of his mind. His head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton, his ears rang and his eyes smarted from the light. He turned off all of the lights in his office except for a small desk lamp and waited for his headache to recede.

It was doing just that when the yelling started and above it all Kagome's pleas for patience and quiet on his behalf. He somehow heard her pained gasp above their shouting and the idea of his sweet little secretary getting hurt by the angry mob enraged him.

"Now," he growled softly, the sound guttural and strange to his sensitive ears. "Who's going to answer me?"

"Endo-san," Kagome began and squeaked when Inuyasha's hand flew up.

"No, I don't want an explanation from you," he told her. He gave her a reassuring smile and watched as she returned it. She nodded her head in understanding and moved around the desk, past him, to her seat where she sat down and watched the show.

"Senor Endo," the man from earlier began. "We heard you were in the building so-"

"For one, I don't handle the Madrid account. Sesshoumaru does and he's not here. For anyone that gives a damn, he's still in ICU." He frowned when the group began to mutter, the gossip that was sure to spread through the company already beginning. "If this is the way you people behave," he called out above the muttering, his commanding voice silencing those around him. "Then it's no wonder the Madrid offices are so screwed up. Your budgeting is for shit and I know Sesshoumaru's frustrated as hell by your incompetence."

"Senor Endo, we're so so-"

"Maybe we should shut the Madrid office down completely," Inuyasha continued as if he didn't hear them. "Think of the money we'd save if we didn't have to deal with you people. I'll certainly have to talk to him about it when he comes to. I bet he'd even be willing to entertain the idea once he finds out about how you've abused our secretary here." Inuyasha smirked when they began to fidget, his nose twitching slightly at something in the air.

"Senor Endo, we're terribly sorry," one woman said as she approached him. She bowed stiffly and sighed. "Forgive us, but we were in a rush to see either of you."

"Don't apologize to me," Inuyasha said before tapping the wood in front of Kagome. "Apologize to her. Our decision will be based on her forgiveness."

"Huh?" Kagome couldn't help but say. "Now wait a second Endo-san. I'm alright. I just-"

"Please forgive us Senora Higurashi," the woman said and gestured for everyone to bow. "We didn't mean to disrespect you so."

"It's fine, really," Kagome replied quickly, her hands quickly motioning for them to rise. "You guys are fine. Its ok!"

"Hm."

Kagome looked up and found Inuyasha smiling at her, his elbow propped up on her desk and his index finger bent against his chin. She scowled at him when he laughed, the Madrid businessmen glancing up in what could have been horror at his sudden jovial mood.

"You people are lucky," he remarked. "Kagome's a very forgiving person." His smile disappeared quickly, leaving behind his former anger. "I'm not so forgiving. I don't want to see, smell or hear you people until Sesshoumaru is better. If I do you won't have to worry about your jobs 'cause they won't exist. And don't think I won't let Sesshoumaru know of this little incident. I'm positive that he'll be less than pleased." He frowned one last time, then jerked his chin toward the elevator.

"Now disappear. I'm sure you have work to do."

The lobby cleared out almost instantly, the apologies of the crowd falling on deaf ears as they boarded the elevator. Kagome sighed when the doors closed, the second today as relief once again coursed through her veins once again. "That was pretty good Endo-sa-." She turned and blinked, surprised to find him gone. 'Oh well,' Kagome shrugged as she logged onto her computer. 'Back to work I suppose.' She returned to a report she had been working on before lunch, then worked on a call list tacked to a small board next to her computer. She was soon too absorbed in her work to remember the tiny glass jar in her purse, nor notice the long scratch embedded in the hard wood of her desk.

(End chapter)

SF: OK, that's chapter two for this wonderful story. Someone asked me if I thought that maybe I was getting the summary to this story and the chapter one for another story mixed up since the summary and chapter one are NOTHING alike. I admit, they're not but once this story get's rolling you'll come to realize that it fits.

Kagome: (:flipping through the script:) Hey, this story is weird.

Inu-chan: What now?

Kagome: (:holding out her script to him:) Look. See, you and Sesshoumaru sorta get along, I'm...well, different and there's so many new people. It's amazing but it's weird.

SF: That's me. Amazing but weird. Lol. Anyway, that's this chapter. The preview for the next chapter is next.

Chapter three

-Kagome remembers the jar

-Sesshoumaru wakes up

-An unknown arrives in Japan.

SF: Oh! I nearly forgot! If anyone's noticed, I don't have any chapter names for this story. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to name them.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Um...duh. I don't own it. If I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. Lol.

Chapter Three

(I)

"Ugh, it's so good to be home," Kagome groaned aloud as she dropped her shoes at the doorway of her small apartment. She looked around and frowned at the silence, the absence of noise abnormal as she closed the door and shouted her brother's name. "Souta," she called while she searched the apartment's tiny two bedrooms. "Souta, are you here?" She knocked on the bathroom door and sighed, figuring her brother to either still be at school or at their mom's house.

Kagome sighed again and dropped her purse onto the coffee table, the depression she normally left on her doorstep when she left home now resting on her shoulders as she sat down in a nearby armchair and looked around her. The entire apartment was furnished with knicknacks and oddities from their grandfather's shed and though they could have been sleeping on the floor, the lumpy mattresses and malfunctioning appliances were an embarrassment to herself and her brother.

'We can't afford anything else though,' Kagome said to herself as she pushed out of the chair and grabbed her purse. 'Everything I make goes to Souta's college fund. I can understand him not wanting to bring his friends here. I wouldn't want to bring anyone new here either.' Kagome and Sango had been friends since their kindergarten days and Kagome was still embarrassed to have her best friend walk into the meager apartment.

Kagome reached for her purse, an "Oh crap!" escaping her lips as her fingertips overshot it and knocked the small leather satchel over. It's contents spilled all over the table and onto the floor, and Kagome muttered a few chosen words as she crawled around the coffee table to pick everything up. She returned everything back to her purse and picked it up, then stood up and made her way to her bedroom. She hung her purse on her doorknob and turned back around, this time heading toward the bathroom when her foot kicked something solid.

"Hey, what's this?" she asked aloud as she picked up the small glass jar. "Oh yeah, this is the stuff Kouga had earlier. I must have forgotten to give it to him." She closed the bathroom door behind her, turned on the water and waited for their ancient hot water heater to kick on while she looked over the jar.

Little about it, or the pinkish goo inside it, had changed since the first time she saw it and once again Kagome found herself wondering what it _was_ exactly before a sudden idea came to her. "Maybe it's some sort of facial mask," she determined as she unscrewed the lid. She took a delicate sniff and was surprised to find that it smelled a lot like orchids and water lilies. She sniffed it again then took her finger and swirled it around the goo's surface. The liquid was cool to the touch and silky, like talcum powder. To her, it felt nothing like what it looked and once again Kagome wondered what it was supposed to be.

"I'm not going to keep messing with it," she said to herself as she sat the jar onto the side of the tub and washed her hands. "If it's some sort of beauty product, then maybe the lab's not ready to try it on human subjects yet. No use getting a rash or anything." Kagome ran her hand underneath the tub's faucet and sighed happily, the water finally at the right temperature, before stopping up the tub and reaching for a nearby bottle of bubble bath. Soon Kagome was soaking the day away, a blissful smile on her lips and the little jar forgotten as she closed her eyes and placed her diskman's headphone's into her ears.

She raised one foot onto the side of the tub, unaware of the little jar as it slipped down from it's perch on the tub's ledge and sank underneath the fragrant bubbles. Kagome hummed happily, her eyes still closed, as the water around her turned a gentle pink. The bubbles happily sparkled under the pink glow and it wasn't long until Kagome was fast asleep.

(II)

"Hold up," Inuyasha interrupted as he glared a hole into the doctor. "Say that again, and this time in straight Japanese."

The doctor stammered at the request, tiny beads of sweat forming on his bald brow as he shuffled nervously underneath Inuyasha's piercing stare. "We-we don't know what's w-wrong with him."

"And just why the **_fuck_** not!" Inuyasha demanded hotly. "Just what do you numbunts do all day, stand around with your fingers in each other's asses!" He groaned when they did nothing but fidget, their eyes shifting from one to the other before he threw up his hands and stormed down the hallway toward Sesshoumaru's room. The hospital staff avoided him like the walking plague, the startled fear shone on their faces as they quickly merged toward the wall out of his way. Inuyasha mumbled the entire way down, his complaints and curses trailing behind him like the remnants of a thunderstorm as he flung open the door to Sesshoumaru's private suite and plunked down in one of the room's many chairs.

"Incompetent asses," he growled and dug his nails into the chair's hardwood arms. "I can't believe them! 'We can't wake him up,' they said! 'We don't know what's wrong with him,' they said! Useless!" He sighed and closed his eyes, the blaring florescent bulbs above his head painful to his smarting orbs before fishing a pair of shades out of his suit jacket pocket. He scooted closer to Sesshoumaru's bedside and looked down at his older brother. He shook his head at how weak he seemed, how pale his countenance appeared to be as he lay there sleeping. Tiny blue veins crisscrossed their way underneath the paper thin skin of Sesshoumaru's hands and eyelids. His nails were clean, short and well taken care of, and they glimmered like glass in the harsh light.

Inuyasha looked up and winced, the force of the light blinding him immediately. He snapped his eyes shut and frantically searched for his shades, a merciful sigh escaping his lips as he slipped the dark lenses over his sensitive lids. "What the hell..." he wondered, and for a moment thought to bring his sudden sensitivity to the attention of the hospital staff before huffing in disgust.

"Yeah right," Inuyasha mumbled and leaned back in his chair. "Like they'd know what to look for. It's obvious they're having trouble as it is." He sighed again, this one weary and worried as he glanced toward his silent brother and frowned. "You've got to wake up Sesshoumaru," he whispered softly, his eyes downcast and sad. "I've gotta get you out of here, but I can't if you don't wake up." He watched, waiting for some sign, then sighed and stared up at the ceiling. He stared into space, his thoughts a million miles away, and jumped at the sharp, barking cough that suddenly filled the room.

Inuyasha glanced down and grinned as Sesshoumaru continued to cough, his eyes squeezed shut and one of his pristine hands covering his open mouth. "Ewww," Inuyasha grimaced and reached over to help Sesshoumaru sit up. "Damn, germ, spread your disease somewhere else."

Sesshoumaru's coughing fit finally subsided, his scrunched up features relaxing as his lungs greedily sucked in the air previously robbed from them. "Get away from me," he hoarsely groaned and tried his best to shove Inuyasha away. He drank deeply from the glass of water in Inuyasha's hand then shoved that away too. "Go torture someone else brat. Did you even shower this morning?"

"Yeah, I did for your information," Inuyasha countered and returned the glass to the bed's sidetable. "But that was this **morning**. It's got to be at least eight or nine o' clock in the evening."

Sesshoumaru's brow wrinkled in surprised and attempted to open his eyes. He winced and shrank back from the light, his pale arm coming up to shield his sensitive eyes. "What's going on Inuyasha? Why are my eyes so sensitive?"

"You've got me," Inuyasha answered as he rushed to turn the overhead lights off. He fumbled around in the dark for the table lamp beside the bed, but jerked back when it came on without him. He watched as Sesshoumaru's fingers fluttered away from the lamp's switch, the sparse light glittering off of his fingernails. 'Hey, his eyes hurt too,' Inuyasha noted as Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and pressed his index and middle fingers to the center of his forehead. 'And what's the deal with his nails? Were they _that_ long before?'

"Where are we?"

"Wha?" Inuyasha stammered, surprised at Sesshoumaru's groaned intrusion into his thoughts. "Oh, right. We're in a hospital."

"Wha-" Sesshoumaru paused, an earsplitting yawn interrupting his train of thought before he could go on. "What happened?"

"Well," Inuyasha began as he returned to the chair at Sesshoumaru's bedside. "What do you remember?"

Sesshoumaru sniffed again, his nose wrinkling as if offended, then said, "I remember the plane to the Amazon, our guides and our porters. I remember the temple and ..."

"And falling into that weird glowing purple crap, right?" Inuyasha guessed.

Sesshoumaru nodded.

"Guess what?" Inuyasha replied. "That's all I remember too. Well, not exactly. I remember **you** falling in, then me trying to get those bastards to help me fish you out. They ran like cowards-"

"Then it is good we did not pay them their entire fee," Sesshoumaru interrupted. Inuyasha smirked mischievously. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, from what I was told, they found us at least fifteen miles up stream. Some tribe found us and plucked us out of the river. By the time our porters found us we'd been unconscious for at least a week.

"The tribe told the porters, who told the doctors, who told me when I woke up last week, that we were found with this weird purple powder all over us. The tribe's shaman spend days trying to wash the stuff off and we glowed for a least a full day after it was all gone."

"Glowed?" Sesshoumaru repeated, his voice distant and fogged. "Why?"

"The hell if you or I know," Inuyasha grumbled. "The doctors in Brazil don't know what's wrong and the doctors here can't tell me what's wrong. Here's the kicker Sesshoumaru...in all, we've been out of it for almost five weeks."

"Work?" was Sesshoumaru's first question and Inuyasha smirked in response. "Work is fine. Kagome has everything under control, as always."

A short, tired laugh was Sesshoumaru's response while he rolled over, a small smile on his normally passive face as his conscious slipped farther away. He mumbled something, what Inuyasha could have only guessed, and softly exhaled.

"Hey Sesshoumaru?"

"Wha..."

"Um...are you feeling alright?" Inuyasha placed a concerned hand on Sesshoumaru's shoulder and was surprised when Sesshoumaru struck out. His hand was lightening quick, almost too quick to be seen, and knocked Inuyasha's hand away.

"Yeah, I'd take that as a yes," Inuyasha growled distantly. Something dark winked at him from Sesshoumaru's pillow, and he pocketed his shades to see what it was. He reached down, chocolate orbs warily watching for any movements from his sleeping brother, and plucked the darkness free.

'It's...hair,' Inuyasha discovered as he lifted the onyx strands closer. He looked down again when Sesshoumaru shifted and reached down again. He quickly ran his hand through Sesshoumaru's shoulder length hair and gaped when he pulled free a handful of his brother's normally healthy hair.

"What the hell..." he said to himself, his eyes widened in horror. He dropped the hair, his concern for his brother only heightening when Sesshoumaru huffed in his sleep. "Why is this happening? What the hell's going on?" Inuyasha whispered aloud, then frowned in determination. "I done with these people," he said as he quit the room. "I'm signing him out of here. It's time to go home."

(III)

"So," he said to himself as he stepped off of the plane. "This is Japan...ah, much has changed since my last visit."

"Konban wa sir." He turned and smiled at a nearby customs agent as she bowed in greeting. "How are you this evening?"

"I'm fine," he answered, then repeated his answer in Japanese. The attendant smiled again and nodded. "Is this trip for business or pleasure?"

He sighed, his golden eyes distant as he stared out into the city beyond.

"Hopefully, my dear," he finally answered with a casual grin. "It will be more pleasure and less business."

(End Chapter)

Little Muse: SF-chan?

SF: Yeah? What is it?

Little Muse: pointing to Shippou and Rin We'd like to know if we're in the story.

SF: Um...I'm really sorry kids, but you're not. No young dudes aloud.

Shippou: Awww, that sucks!

Inu-chan: pushing Shippou aside Yeah it does don't it? Say, what's the big idea with me bein' all brotherly and crap with Sesshoumaru? You know I hate the guy.

SF: red tail swishing angrily Yeah, I know but it's important to the story that you two _sorta_ get along. Trust me, you guys are gonna really get down later on in the story. For right now you're too sick to do any real damage to each other.

Kagome: Who's the new guy?

Miroku: What new guy?

Kagome: The man that's arrived by plane. Who's he?

SF: Ah, who is he indeed. flicks red ponytail back You guys will just have to see-

Inu cast: Awwww

SF: Now, now. Trust me, I've got everything planned. There's lots to be done with this story, so just stay patient and bear with me. Oh, and the preview for the next chapter is below.

Chapter Three: Souta finds his sister in a dangerous position, the Endo brothers notice further changes in their appearance and the unknown visitor gets closer to his destination.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Um...duh. I don't own it. If I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. Lol.

Chapter Three

(I)

Souta stumbled tiredly into the door, his eyes drooping as he slid the apartment door closed and took off his shoes. He took one sniff at himself and grimaced.

"I smell like old french fries and butt," he grumbled sourly. He tugged his uniform shirt over his head and wadded it into a ball before hiding it behind his back and venturing further into the house. Souta peered into the living room and sighed in relief to find it empty.

Souta had not been hanging out with his friends as Kagome thought for the past two weeks. His late evenings 'hanging out' were behind the counter of a local burger palace. He loved his sister more than anything, so he couldn't allow her to constantly worry over the bills and his tuition.

'Kagome has an old samurai's way of thinking,' Souta mused and stepped through the threshold of his room. 'She thinks she's supposed to protect and provide for the whole family since she's the oldest.' He was touched that she wanted to help him pay for what his scholarship didn't but he couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

'She already thinks that I'm ashamed of this place,' Souta said as he took a look around the small apartment. In truth, so long as it had a TV to hook up his game systems, a fridge to dig through when he caught the munchies and a toilet for ...well, you know- then he was a happy camper. As a matter of fact, he intended to take care of all three of his younger brother priorities as soon as he took a well deserved bath.

He opened the bathroom door, ignorant of the pink glow that shone from the space between the bathroom door and the floor, and stepped in. He blinked at the pretty rosy hue around him and frowned in manly indignation. "Man, Kagome, this is wrong," he grumbled as he approached the bathroom mirror. "How's a man supposed to take a d-" He looked into the mirror, then turned around and gaped. The pretty pink glow wasn't coming from some new light bulb Kagome was trying out but from the small shower/bath on the opposite side of the wall.

Souta approached the water slowly, his eyes trained to the still waters and gaped at the shimmering pink bubbles on the surface. They glowed like jewels and looked just as solid, but it was when he reached to touch them that they decided to float out of his reach and reveal his sister's face. He gawked and jumped back, his eyes practically burning at the idea of nearly seeing his sister nude, and scrambled away from the tub back to the sink.

"Gah Kagome, I'm so sorry!" he practically shrieked in embarrassment. He ducked his head and tore from the room, his arms protecting his head from the various projectiles that he knew she would start flinging at him. He slammed the door shut and leaned against it, relief painted on his face as he waited for his sister's screams and threats to end his life early.

Imagine his surprise when none came.

He opened the door again, this time cautiously, and peered into the room toward the tub. The bubbles continued to shimmer under the pink light, some choosing to float from the water's still surface into the air around him. The bathroom smelled of some sort of exotic flower and the more he sniffed the more he felt that the scent would soak into his skin and bond with him, leaving him smelling like this permanently.

'Better than old burgers and BenGay,' he grumbled to himself as he walked up to the tub again. Kagome was still there, her eyes closed and her lips in a peaceful smile that radiated her happiness and comfort from underneath the water's surface.

'Wait a sec...'

Souta immediately panicked and reached into the tub, his hands finding purchase around Kagome's slender waist, and tugged her out of the gelatinous water. He frowned down at the gooey substance but wasted little time in wrapping Kagome in the nearest towel and racing out of the bathroom toward her bedroom.

"Kagome," he called as he rubbed the towel over her face and nose. He grimaced at the pink water, once so pretty and harmless, now seeping out of her nose, eyes, mouth and ears like runny Jell-O. Her silence worried him and he continued to wipe the stuff off of her as he called her name. "Kagome, wake up. Kagome are you ok?" He secured the towel around her and listened to her chest, shocked beyond all reasoning to find her heartbeat still strong. His head rose and fell with her breathing and Souta nearly cried in relief.

"Gah, Kagome," he said as he stepped away from the bed. "You really scared me you know. Just what do you think you're..." He stopped, the words dying in his throat as she began to glow. What he thought was the aftereffects of his attempts to dry her off quickly became the same glow as what was in the bathroom. Kagome sighed pleasantly and rolled over, the smile on her face the perfect contradiction to Souta's rising panic. She tucked her legs closer to her and fell back into her deep slumber, leaving Souta to wonder as to what to do.

'How long was she in that stuff anyway?' he wondered as he went back to the bathroom. The pink glow was gone, leaving the sterile white bathroom, harmless bubbles, and clear bath water. He glanced around the tub's side, wondering to himself what on earth she could have used, and came to a small glass jar. He held it up and peered inside at the remaining pink fluid left inside and grimaced to himself. 'It's got a Endo Laboratories barcode on it. Maybe it's some sort of experimental..._something_, but why would they ask Kagome to test it? Don't they have professionals for this sort of thing?'

He left the room and went back to Kagome, and immediately rushed to her side when he found her sitting up and looking at him through glowing hooded lids. "Kagome, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered with a smile as she crawled toward the head of her bed and her pillows. "Why? What's the matter Souta? And why do you smell like old food?"

Souta laughed at that one, but decided as he tucked her in not to tell her about how he found her, nor that she practically shone like a morning star. "Don't worry about how I smell. You don't smell too hot yourself."

"The heck you say," Kagome yawned tiredly. "Man, I don't know why I'm so tired. Will you be alright while I get some sleep?"

"Yeah," Souta snorted and rolled his eyes. "I can feed myself you know. I'm 18 Kagome, not 8. I know how to use a stove."

"Just don't burn the house down, 'kay."

"OK Kagome," Souta whispered as she slipped further away. "I won't." He stayed by her side until she fell asleep, then slid down the side of her bed to the floor. He sat and stared at the wall, his mind flying at a hundred miles a minute as he tried to figure out what to do.

'If she's still knocked out in the morning, I'll call an ambulance. If she's still glowing, I'll call a houshi. Yeah,' he nodded to himself. 'That sounds like a good idea.' He moved from the floor to a nearby chair, his bath, his game and his food long forgotten as he settled himself in for a long night.

(II)

Inuyasha paced the halls of the hospital, the third shift staff on edge with each step as he mulled over what he was about to do. He'd asked about Sesshoumaru's hair loss and their sensitivities to light and scents, but received little more than shrugged shoulders and clueless glances. In truth it was really beginning to piss him off and it took a lot of his lesser known self control to keep from maiming someone.

'Not that I wouldn't do it _gladly_,' he growled to himself as he passed the nurses office once again. The three behind the counter gulped when he glared at them, the fear in their eyes sharp to his sudden sensitivity. He glanced away and their collective sighs of relief teased his sensitive skin. 'These people have no idea what's wrong with us,' Inuyasha realized. 'So what's the purpose of paying them when they don't have a clue what to do? Hell, they're doing here what old Chief Stick-in-Ass's servants do already.'

Decision made, he quit the hallway and returned to Sesshoumaru's room, taking a moment to glance over his brother's silent form before going toward a nearby linen closet. He pulled out a pair of white hospital issue pants and a pair of blue bedroom slippers. The doctors came in just as Inuyasha was slipping the pants over Sesshoumaru's narrow hips, his eyes screwed shut and his head turned a near 180 degrees.

"What are you doing Endo-san?"

"I'm getting my brother out of here," Inuyasha replied as he pushed a nearby wheelchair toward Sesshoumaru's bedside. Through this his brother slept on, completely unaware of the tension in the air around him (or the fact that Inuyasha left him hanging half off the bed).

"We do not encourage such action, Endo-sa-"

"I don't even **_remotely_** care!!" Inuyasha shot back angrily. "You people can't help us! You don't even know how to **begin** helping us."

"Yes, but what if-"

"What if _what_?!" Inuyasha growled at them, his blunt teeth bared and his eyes narrowed, and was just as surprised at his primitive, animalistic behavior. He lifted Sesshoumaru easily -far easier than he was sure he was meant to-and placed him into the wheelchair. He draped a blanket over Sesshoumaru's legs before pushing him out the door towards the nurse's office.

"Endo-san, there is something you must understand," the doctor shouted to him as Inuyasha signed Sesshoumaru out. "If he becomes worse then you will be blamed."

"And what happens if he becomes worse here?" Inuyasha glared menacingly. "I'm getting him out of her and I'm going to find us some help."

"But Endo-san-"

"I don't want to hear it. Thank you for what _little_ you've done, but we-Are-Leaving." Inuyasha turned the wheelchair around easily and pushed his slumbering sibling down the hallway, the ends of his coattails and his low slung ponytail the last the doctors saw of the pair before they turned the corner and disappeared.

(III)

'This land is so...new...' The Stranger said to himself as he stared in wide eyed wonder at the city of Tokyo. 'Never in all my years have I seen anything so wondrous...' The lights attracted him, the smells enticed him and the throngs of people passed by him with little to no regard as to who (or what) he was.

'The freedom here is undeniable, but I must not allow it to sway me.' He growled softly, yellow eyes briefly hidden behind bronzed lids, and began his journey anew. In the pockets of his coat held his only clue to his prey: a single glass jar with a company's barcode and emblem. He stopped a nearby native for directions, her distraction to his ruggedly handsome face more than enough to gain the information he needed and the ability to fluently speak her language once he touched her hand.

"Onigai, please," he beseeched with a hopelessly lost look on his gladiator features. "I am new to the city and I am lost. My friend works someplace nearby but I don't remember the name of the company, nor how to get there. Will you help me?"

The young woman blushed heavily, her scent alerting him to her willingness to help him in more ways than he intended, and accepted the little jar. She looked over it and nodded, then proceeded to tell him the name of the company. She pulled a scrap sheet of paper out of her coat pocket and began to scribble down the address. She handed it to him with a beaming smile, the blush she sported on her cheeks blossoming to the rest of her face when he lightly caressed her hand, and apologized for her horrid handwriting.

"Nonsense my dear," he assured her with a winning smile. "Your directions are more than adequate. Graci-Arigato." He kissed her hand, his male pride practically bursting at the seams when her heart skipped a beat and her scent twisted on itself, and began his journey toward the business district on the other side of the city.

(End Chapter)

SF: I'm really sorry about how short this chapters are. I don't know why they end up this way. Everything else is always 12 to 16 pages.

Kagome: Don't worry about it. I'm sure that as the story goes on, you'll get longer chapters.

SF: Really? You think so? Cause it's not lack of inspiration on my part.

Sango: Kagome's right. Don't worry about it.

SF: Thanks you guys. I really appreciate it. Where are the guys?

Kagome: They went to get 'wasted beyond imagination' or something like that. That's what Silver said anyway.

SF: And that fox wasted is _never_ a good thing. The next chapter's summary is below. Come on girls, we've got a couple of bulls to wrangle.

Chapter Four: The Endo brothers endure changes of their own, and none of them are nearly as happily received. Who do you call when doctors can't tell you what's wrong with you? The Stranger meets Sango, but not the reason for his visit.


End file.
